During
the 2000 presidential election, thousands of Southern voters were turned
away and countless ballots thrown out-most of them African-American.
Exactly a century ago, in the winter of 1900-01, the movement to eliminate
African-Americans from Southern politics reached its climax. As a result,
virtually all African-Americans were deprived of the voting rights they
possessed since Reconstruction.

A
new book by a University of Illinois at Chicago historian offers the
most complete and systematic study to date of the history of disfranchisement
in the South. The book, "Struggle for Mastery: Disfranchisement in the
South 1888-1908" (University of North Carolina Press), by Michael Perman,
research professor in the humanities, identifies patterns and connections
that have previously gone unnoticed.

After
examining the origins and objectives of disfranchisement, Perman traces
the process as it unfolds state by state. Next, Perman explores the
federal government's apparent consent in disenfranchisement, the relationship
between disfranchisement and segregation and the political system that
emerged after the decline of the South's electorate.

"Disfranchisement
eliminated millions of voters and thereby produced an electoral system
unprecedented in American history-a highly restricted electorate dominated
by just one party," said Perman. "In effect, Southern politics became
exclusively white and would remain so until the Voting Rights Act of
1965 and the electoral changes it produced."

Perman's
findings strongly suggest that the aim of the disfranchisement a century
ago was not simply an attempt to frustrate voters by tampering with
ballots at election time. Instead, Southern states intended to remove
all African-American voters by establishing voting requirements that
they knew blacks could not meet.

"The
primary target of this ruthless campaign was the African-American voter,"
said Perman. "They intended to remove blacks from the political system
by formal, legal means, not merely by stealing their votes."

Perman
is also the author of "Emancipation and Reconstruction, 1862-1879" and
the award winning "Road to Redemption: Southern Politics, 1869-1879."